Birdcraft Museum

Fairfield’s Birdcraft Museum has the oldest private songbird sanctuary in the country, founded in 1914 by Mabel Osgood Wright, a pioneer in the American conservation movement and founder of the Connecticut Audubon Society. Listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1993, it was the original headquarters of Connecticut Audubon. The museum, open Tuesday-Friday, 9-1 (check for summer hours), includes dioramas of Connecticut’s wildlife as it existed at the turn of the 20th Century as well as exhibits of birds. The museum also features a Nature Store. The adjoining six-acre sanctuary, which is open daily from dawn to dusk, has documented more than 120 species of birds. From the Teaching Bridge abutting the Birdcraft Pond, visitors may see many of the sanctuary's resident songbirds and waterfowl. Volunteers operate a seasonal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bird Banding Station in spring and late summer. More than 18,000 birds have been mist-netted, examined, banded and released since the station opened in 1979.

Groups may make reservations for banding demonstrations. Museum admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children under 14.

Details

From I-95, Exit 21, go north on Mill Plain Road about a half mile to Unquowa Road; after going under I-95, take driveway on left into parking lot. For more information, call 203-259-0416. The Web site is www.ctaudubon.org.

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